Midhani to expand melting capacity to 15 tonnes

Mumbai: Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd (Midhani) will increase its melting capacity from the current five tonnes to 15 tonnes in the next 12 months and take a host of measures, including implementation of ERP, to increase efficiency and cut costs.

The Ordinance Factory Board (OFB is providing the funds for adding another furnace at a cost of over Rs20 crore, to increase the melting capacity to 15 tonnes, M Narayana Rao, chairman and managing director, told newspersons at the inaugural session of a customer meet.

"In the last four years, we doubled sales to Rs192 crore. Our current order book stands at Rs600 crore. We target to double our turnover within two years," he said. "Currently, 20 per cent of our revenue comes from commercial sales and we intend to increase it further," he added.

All measures are being taken to prevent delays in delivery and make the pricing more competitive by cutting down costs. "The raw material costs in the international market have gone up by over 600 per cent in the last four years. To remain competitive, we are implementing ERP this year," Mr Rao said.

Midhani is in the process of signing MoUs with many customers to know about their future requirements in advance, Rao said, adding that the company was aiming at improving sales to non-government entities such as L&T.

Midhani was incorporated as a public sector undertaking under the administrative control of department of defence production under the ministry of defence for the manufacture of superalloys, titanium alloys and special purpose steel required for strategic sectors like aeronautics, atomic energy, space, as also soft products like molybdenum, wirres and plates and titanium and stainless steel tubes, alloys for electronic applications like soft magnetic alloys, controlled expansion alloys and resistence alloys.